AllenA07

I have a hard time seeing any B&M as being rough. Wind Jammer was rough, Flashback was rough, Scream and Riddlers Revenge just fail to inspire the same amount of dread.

My biggest complaint about Scream is how it was introduced to the park. There are a lot of rumors out there (most of which have been all but confirmed really) that Scream wasn't meant for SFMM. The best evidence of that being true is that it always felt as though the ride was just plopped down without any real thought. Almost like in RCT when you select one of the pre-designed rides, and then run a short line. Even the name screams (see what I did there?) out for a lack of effort. The ride has never really felt like part of the park. I'm really hoping that Scream can get a new lease on life here with TC being built. Hopefully new paint and a new theme and being in a part of the park that gets some foot traffic will get the ride some love.

I wonder what the cost would be of ripping out the parking lot and just laying down a layer of dirt. My guess the the price would be staggering.

Yes, you called? Steve- Didn't know you were hanging around these parts!

I'll go ahead and add one near SFMM. Chi Chi's Pizza is located 15-20 minutes (with traffic) from the park, and ranks as one of the three best pizza places (if you're curious, Lombardi's in NYC and Home Slice Pizza would be the other two I put in the same class) I have ever been to. When I was living in Santa Clarita that was a place we used to hit all the time. They have a decent size menu and have a bunch of other good Italian food, but the pizza really is the star of the show there. There are actually two locations that are in the vicinity of the park, they are a chain of 5 restaurants I believe.

One of the most miserable openings I've ever gone to! It was cold and rained almost the entire day. Yes, but going up the hill after the first drop in the HAIL was a moment I can never forget And, the helix of doom was also running full force at that point!!!! I was even in one of the wheel chucking cars too... ~memories~ Funny I thought I remembered it hailing but I wasn't 100% sure.

I thought it was Crayon. I think that's a notch above chalk???

One of the most miserable openings I've ever gone to! It was cold and rained almost the entire day.

If the land had been purchased we would know about it. It's such a giant amount of land people would be quick to notice. Not to mention that Sarbanes-Oxley would make it impossible to conceal a purchase of that magnitude.

None of the local media seems to be taking this very seriously. Looking more at it, I really love the potential location. I think something this size could survive and even do well there. This area is growing fast enough and is close enough to other major cities that I think a project of this size could be possible (though I think if it were my money a city like Killeen, TX would make more sense). The biggest problem I have is the fact that they haven't talked with the city. This area is giving away so many incentives to build out here, that have no doubt that a project of this size would be able to get some serious help. Really, if you want to build anything larger then a Taco Bell, DFW is going to throw money at you right now. It's a cool project and I think the local population could support it, I'm just not convinced that this group has done the work necessary to make it happen. Beyond that, we're not talking about Disney here that has the reputation to stand on. Disney can charge $100+ a person for a day at their parks, and they've earned the right to do it. It's because they have 60 years of running great parks and people trust them. When it's my vacation time and money, I'm going to need to be convinced that this park is worth my investment. Location wise, DFW (Texas in general) is a great place for a project of this scope. I just don't think this is the group to take on a project of this magnitude.

The incentive thing has me very surprised. As it stands incentives are being handed out like crazy out here, I'm sure if they want show they can get them when a project of this size. I also live near the Nebraska Furniture Mart, don't think I've ever been so excited to go to a fruniture store before.

Chad, since you were there in curious what you're feeling is. Any chance that this has a serious chance of coming together?

I've got to agree with the potential location out near Alliance Airport. There is a ton of open land out there as all you really have is the airport and Texas Motor Speedway. Plus it's a very central location that is pretty close to the main airport. Location wise it's actually a pretty great spot for a park. I'm not sure if I'm sold on winter theme, trying to sell a winter theme in DFW during the middle of August is going to be hard. I don't think this happens, but if nothing else it has made me think about what a great spot they (likely) have picked for a major attraction like this. I'm not sure the funding comes together, but I think there is a universe where this thing could survive if done right. Might want to go ahead and hire better artists though for the drawings, it was looking a little coloring book quality there. Little bit more: http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/2015/02/a-lot-of-questions-about-promised-3-5-billion-fort-worth-theme-park-but-not-many-answers.html/

Six Flags has been using stock images for a very long time. When Riddlers Revenge opened, the parked used stock footage of Batman: The Escape for the shots of Riddlers. I always enjoyed the irony that the park advertised their new stand-up coaster by showing commercials with their old one.

Hard Rock park at least got built, I doubt this well. I would be very interested to see how a park of this scale would do in Texas. The population is certainly here, and land isn't at a shortage in the State. Granted, I would probably look towards Austin as where I would want to build, you've got a huge number of people (and rapidly growing) within a 3 hour radius.

Something tells me I don't need to be looking into season pass options for this.

It's been several months at least. The elevators are in a state of disrepair (and reportedly not up to code) and the park has been so far unable to find anyone either willing or qualified to fix them due to their unique nature. As far as I know there has been no decision made to close it permanently, but there's also no estimate for if or when they might reopen. Basically SBNO. I just don't understand this. They spent all that money, what, six years ago, to get that ride re-opened only to have it now sitting there again. Did they just stop maintaining it for the last couple of years and gave it zero attention? I'm guessing the answer is yes. Makes no sense to me. That tower is the icon of the entire Santa Clarita Valley. When you see the Sky Tower off I-5 that's when you you're in the "SCV" and to have it just sitting there rotting, once again, is a real shame. Has Kings Island or Kings Dominion ever gone years without their towers open? What about Elitch's or SFOT? I'm curious. Really, what's SFMM's excuse? Back when I was covering the park in the mid 2000's the tower, much as it does now, would go down for years at a time. I was told by several people that the cost of maintenance and operation made it a difficult ride to keep open. Not really sure why the ride is so difficult to keep open, it's not like an elevator is the most sophisticated piece of equipment in the park. Also I had heard that the park didn't like making three employees available to run the ride, especially considering that the park often has staffing issues. Honestly I never understood the extreme difficulty the park had keeping the tower open. I'm guessing it will reopen in 2016, stay open until part way through the 2018 season, and then be closed into the early part of the next decade, and we will have this discussion all over again. EDIT: A few other notes I'll throw out there. In terms of the tower elevator needing a complete overhaul, I've always been at least somewhat dubious about that. While I'm sure there is work that needs to be done on it, the fact remains that this isn't the first time the tower has gone down for an extended time. I know it was down for a long time back in the late 90's early 2000's. Back at that point I recall the rumor floating out there that removal was possible. It went through another extended closure a few years ago before reopening with the museum up there. My guess is that this isn't an overhaul we're talking about, rather the park simply doesn't want to pay basic maintenance costs, or there is another issue that we're not aware of. As far as the new development behind the park, that has been in the work for a LONG time. That was an issue back in the early 2000's (though now it appears substantially further along). I always assumed it would eventually happen. That being said, I also assumed that the SFMM "citywalk" style project and hotel would eventually happen, so it shows what I know.

That's the same basic thing that I heard at the time. I've never known if it was true or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was some truth behind it.

Turning back towards Scream for a minute, I have always seen that as one of the more strange projects the park has ever done. Back when Scream was was a project at the park, I had a good number of connections and people who would drop me information on what the park was doing. Not all of my sources were great, others were better, but regardless of that what always got me about Scream was how little I heard about the project. In fact the first time I was actually told that it was going to be a B&M was about a month prior to the first spray paint markings appearing for the ride. Before that my information had been that the park might be planning something, but really nothing great. Later on I heard it thrown out there that SFMM wasn't thrilled about getting Scream, and that the ride had been planned for another park (which is a pretty well known rumor), either way with everything considered it does make me wonder about the planning that went in when planning on bringing Scream into the park. It's really not that bad of a coaster, but it has always had the feeling of a ride that was just thrown in last minute. I have always wondered what really took place behind the scenes with that ride.

I've never understood people talking about Viper being rough. While it isn't the smoothest ride ever, you're not exactly leaving with a concussion either. As far as backwards rides, as a kid I road Psyclone backwards. Anybody else here remember doing that?

I like positive forces more than negative. Just a personal preference.

Ghostrider from the year it opened is still my favorite wooden coaster. It was an amazing coaster.

My guess is nothing at all happens when Revolution turns 40. I also don't see the park ripping the ride out, there is an iconic element to it, and due to the associated history, I think SFMM would chose to keep it in the lineup. I will say however that I do think Revolution will someday revert to a lapbar only ride. I think that day comes when the current trains reach a maintenance point where they cost more to keep up then replace. When the park reaches a point of needing to replace the trains I think they come back without the OTSR. Nothing is going to happen because the ride turns 40, new trains are not going to bring enough return on investment to justify until it becomes cost prohibitive to run the current trains.

The same thing that happenes if somebody gets sick at the beginning of a ride.

Don't mess with nature. Life will find a way.